19 Sep 2018

Regular users of Facebook find it fascinating to use WeChat. The 5 common Facebook features are simply not available on WeChat. Note that other than this, WeChat has at least 28 features that Facebook does not have. The 5 FB features that cannot be done in WeChat are:1. Hastag #In Facebook, you can simply hastag a topic so that this topic can be easily searched by people. But there is no such hastag on WeChatThis is because WeChat uses a very powerful search engine where you can search for key words without the need for a hastag. Go to your 'Discover' page and select 'Search'.2. Tag peopleYou can tag someone on in your Facebook's posts so that such posts will appear on their timeline. There is no such feature on WeChst. As such, your 'My Posts' on WeChat is cleaner as no one can put something not posted by you on your timelineIn WeChat, you can simply mention your friends by using '@' in your Moments posts and they will receive this as a message to remind them to read your Moments post3. Edit PostsYou can edit your posts on Facebook anytime but not on WeChat's Moments. You have to delete and re-post that Moments post. In this way, WeChat imposes more discipline on its users as they have to think before they post. Note that your WeChat users can simply report to the company if they find your posts not appropriate for them, like politics or sex.4. Photos and VideosIn Facebook, you can post a combination of photos and videos but not on WeChat. You can only post videos of up to 10 seconds or up to 9 photos but not both on one single Moments post5. Friends of Friends Can See What You Post on Facebook but not on WeChat. Only your friends can see your Moments posts. A stranger (i.e someone not your WeChat friend) can only read up to 10 photos of your Moments postsTo learn how to use WeChat like a pro and reach out to the global high purchasing power of the Chinese, join our 123rd run of WeChat Power course on 12 Oct 2018 Friday 2 to 6 pm. Special 80% discount available here Other WeChat articles (click on the title to read):

16 Sep 2018

Almost all the people that use WeChat has one major goal: to sell to the rich people in China. In fact, many people told me that the one and the only reason to use WeChat is to get rich by selling to the people that use nothing except WeChat: the people from China.So people learn WeChat and start to do things that they would do in Facebook and other social media: pay money to advertise. But they soon discover that you cannot just pay to 'boost post' in WeChat. You have to enter into an advertisement contract with the company if you want to advertise to the WeChat users in China. But unlike Facebook where paid advertisements start from as low as 20 cents, all paid advertisements in WeChat start from US$20,000 for overseas WeChat accounts and CNY 10,000 for China WeChat accounts. Frustrated, they next do what a business person would do: do many posts on WeChat Moments advertising their products and services. WeChat Moments posts work like Facebook newsfeeds and it is free, right? So they post many times a day pushing their products and services. But little did they realize that their friends in WeChat resent such persistent advertisements and they will report your spamming to the company. Soon your WeChat account will be suspended. Frustrated, they next turn to Official Account. They heard from some gurus at 'free' WeChat training that if you have a WeChat Official Account, you can reach out to the 1.4 billion Chinese in China. So they pay consultants anything from S$3,500 to $9,000 to create a China WeChat Official Account. With a nice China Official Account created, they soon find that very few people visit their official account because there is no promotion of the official account. Because there are also no new updates of articles on the official account, soon their few followers would un-follow your official account. So their official account would end up with no readers and no followers! Frustrated for the 3rd time, they next turn to WeChat Groupchats. They heard from some WeChat gurus that if you join groupchats, you can simply promote your business to the people there. They know that you cannot search for groupchats to join in WeChat, you have to be invited by groupchat admin to join groupchats. So they invest time and effort to know people and join many groupchats in a short period of time. Once they joined the groupchats, they start advertising in these groupchats, thinking that this must be the best zero-cost advertisements in the world. Little did they realize that soon they will get themselves kicked out of these groupchats, for they breach the number rule in WeChat groupchat: advertise without permissions. Frustrated again for the 4th time, these people now came to one conclusion: it is impossible to do business on WeChat. So they give up. Luckily before they give up, they chance upon some articles about WeChat and for the last time, they part with a few hundred dollars to learn the proper way to do business on WeChat. This trainer told everyone in the class that it is possible to do business on WeChat, but this takes time, easily 3 to 6 months if you are an active WeChat user. There are 4 main tools on WeChat, and they are all free tools! The 4 tools are Moments, Groupchats, Message Broadcast and Message. Being a social media tool, WeChat is about building your friend and fan base. The key is to make people like you and read what you post and not to sell. You just simply let people know what you do and share your expertise with people. One of the powerful tools to build friends and fans on WeChat is to give out red packets. But you need to have a WeChat Wallet before you can give out red packets in WeChat. The other powerful tool is Mei Pian mini program, a free powerful tool that most people don't know. To know more about how to use WeChat for business the right and free-of-charge way, come for our WeChat Power course. The next 141th run is on Friday 30 Nov 9 am to 1 pm. For special 50% discount at $149 instead of $298, text to Andy at 8201-4347 to inquire. Other WeChat articles (click on the title to read):

8 Sep 2018

If you are like many people in Singapore and Malaysia, you feel that Whatsapp is better and easier to use than WeChat. Many of my customers told me that WeChat has too many features (in fact, WeChat has 1 million features) and way too powerful for the average Singaporean. They say that why complicates things when all we want are just messaging and groupchats communication? I too felt the same way as most people. However, once I started to use WeChat actively in 2017, I realised that even if I were to just use groupchat and nothing else in WeChat, WeChat is 13 times better than WhatsApp.Using WeChat groupchats (and not Whatsapp groupchats) has made my life safer, more productive and secure. The 13 ways that WeChat Groupchats are superior to Whatsapp groupchats are:1. Your Phone Number is Not Revealed in WeChatWhen you join a WhatsApp groupchat, your phone number is known to everyone in the groupchat. You may start receiving spam messages or even calls from people that you don't even know. This is because people can just add you as their contact without your permission and there is really nothing you can do about it. But in WeChat, your phone number is always not revealed. We know that if one were to know your mobile number, one can stalk you and even sell away your phone number for profit. So for your own security and privacy sake, you should use WeChat groupchats more than Whatsapp groupchatsNote that even if you were to leave a Whatsapp groupchat, the groupchat members can still see all the members' phone numbers. However, in WeChat, once you delete someone from the WeChat groupchat, he cannot see any of the groupchat members' details. 2. Your Groupchat friends are NOT your friends on WeChatUnlike Whatsapp, in WeChat, even if you were to join many WeChat groupchats, you are still NOT a friend to anyone in any of the groupchats until you have personally added them as your WeChat friend. There are 2 steps needed to add someone as your WeChat contact. You must first send a friend request, and the other person must accept your friend request within 3 days. When someone is not your WeChat friend, he cannot message you, call you or do message broadcast to you. That's why many people find that WeChat is more secure than Whatsapp3. Your Voice Message in WeChat Cannot be Forwarded, Unlike WhatsAppIf you want to have some confidential conversation with someone on WeChat, be it in a one-to-one message or via grouphat, you can simply send a voice message. You know that voice messages in WeChat cannot be forwarded. This is unlike Whatsapp where you can simply forward any voice messages4. WeChat Uses Less Data and Battery Power than WhatsappThose who use Whatsapp and WeChat simultaneously can testify to this: WeChat is more efficient when it comes to data usage and power consumption. The difference is about 30% to 50%, depending on your phone5. WeChat Voice Messages Cannot Exceed 1 MinuteIf you need to send in your groupchat a long voice message, you need to send multiple voice messages, with each voice message not exceeding one minute. This makes WeChat more secure and private than Whatsapp, which apparently does not have such limit on voice messages6. WeChat Groupchat Can Have 500 people versus Whatsapp 250Just base on this you'll find that you can conduct business more efficiently and effectively via WeChat groupchats than Whatsapp groupchats7. There is Only One Group Admin in WeChat, Unlike Whatsapp Whatsapp sets its default as everyone in the groupchat to be group admin, whereas WeChat by default only has one group admin. We know that the group admin has the power to add and delete groupchat members, thus it is important to have better control over group admin8. Beyond 100 people, WeChat Groupchats Requires a 2-Step Process to Add New MembersFor the first 100 people in your WeChat groupchats, you can simply add them by getting them to scan your WeChat groupchat QR code or you can just them unilaterally. There is no need for the other person to accept your invitation to the WeChat groupchat. But once your WeChat groupchat has more than 100 people, you can only add people to your groupchat via personal invitation, and they must accept your invitation within 3 days. We know that to invite people to your WeChat groupchat, that person must be your WeChat friend first. Note that there is no such requirement in Whatsapp and people can simply add you to their Whatsapp groupchat without your permission. This makes Whatsapp groupchat riskier than WeChat groupchats. 9. You Can Choose to Be NOT KNOWN in WeChat GroupchatsYou can always change your name in WeChat groupchats to something different if you don't want people in the groupchat to know you. There is no such privacy feature in Whatsapp10. Easy Retrieval in WeChat GroupchatsIf you are like me, you have many Whatsapp groupchats and sometimes you miss certain messages because they are lost in the ocean of countless groupchats. In WeChat, you can always select 'Sticky on top' to put your important WeChat groupchat at the top of your screen so that you will never miss them11. WeChat has So Many Stickers Whereas Whatsapp has hardly AnyWe use stickers to communicate our emotions and WeChat is good in this. There is no such thing in Whatsapp12. You Can Check On Someone By Looking at his Moments Posts in WeChatTo check someone out, you can simply look at his Moments posts in WeChat. There is no such thing in Whatsapp 13. All WeChat Groupchats are in One Place, Unlike WhatsappAll your groupchats on WeChat are in one place, unlike Whatsapp. This makes retrieval of groupchats extremely easy, unlike Whatsapp. Just go to your WeChat contacts page, and select 'Groupchats' from there. Here you will see all your WeChat groupchats. Some of you may not find all your WeChat groupchats here. The reason is you have not saved these WeChat groupchats into the WeChat server. To do this, to go the groupchats, and click on the 3 dots on the top right of the screen. Then go to the bottom of the groupchat and select 'Save to Contacts'.

To know how to use WeChat like a pro and make money by selling to the crazy rich Asians who use nothing but WeChat, enroll for our upcoming WeChat course. The next course is on Tuesday 25th September 2018 from 2 to 6 pm. To get your 82% discount (no typo error) at just $94 versus $500 elsewhere, message to Andy at 8201-4347 or visit Other WeChat articles (click on the title to read):

2 Sep 2018

We know that in WeChat, your QR is your first point of contact. Whether it is your personal account, Official Account, Groupchat, Mei Pian or Mini Program, you need people to contact you (or read your article or site) by scanning your QR code.

Other than face-to-face scanning, there are many other ways that you can get people to scan your QR code. Of course, you must make your QR code available easily and better still, give people a good reason to scan your QR code. The following are the top 10 ways to get plenty of people to scan your QR code:

1. Publish QR code on your sites and social media

At the very minimum, your QR code should be at the footer that shows up on every page of your site

2. Add WeChat QR to your company newsletters and email communications. Remind them that they will get some benefits when they scan your QR code

3. QR code on your product or service packaging

Uniqlo, the Japanese retailer, displays its Official Account QR code at all its price tags on its clothing products. They know that the first thing a person looks at when they pick up a clothing is the price tag. Putting the QR code on the price tag also encourages the consumer to keep the price tag for scanning later

4. Run WeChat marketing campaigns in print

Traditional newspapers and magazines can be another great venue to place QR codes. They can also be combined with offers and discounts – an efficient way to entice people to scan it and become your brand’s follower

5. Include your QR code in your business cards. I am the only trainer, possibly in the entire world, to put my QR code so big in my business card

8. Events, Tradeshows, Conferences and Networking events are good places for you to get people to scan your QR code. Be bold to display your QR code at signages, standees and desktop of such places

9. Print your QR code on small pieces of paper and distribute them at events. Places and events with many people include seminars, lobbies, stadiums, shopping centres, concerts, parks, gardens, train stations and airports. Of course, you must give a good reason for people to scan your QR code, like free gifts or discount vouchers

10. Simply give out free gifts to people with condition that they must scan your QR code. This must be the most powerful way to get thousands of people to scan your QR code.

What other methods do you have to get people to scan your QR code? Let me know in the comments, thanks.

By Andy Ng, probably Singapore's number 1 WeChat Trainer. Andy conducts 2 to 5 WeChat classes a week. For the past 12 months, Andy has conducted 114 WeChat classes, averaging 8.4 a month. For the month of September 2018, he has broken his own record by conducting 18 WeChat classes. To enjoy a 82% discount on Andy's WeChat classes, message to him at 8201-4347 now. Other WeChat articles: